Second Year Acting Blog pt.2

We're suddenly up and running! For all the nerves, it's a big relief finally being able to share work with an audience. Our first night in the Jerwood Vanbrugh was wonderful - it's quite a powerful tool, like Thor's hammer, being able to make people laugh. Our Sir Toby's mum was watching and was on her feet most of the time, just beaming!

Taking Twelfth Night to schools is hard but rewarding work. We start the show speaking to the audience in character, and thus we began our first school run. Thinking to endear myself, wreathed in smiles (I find when I'm nervous, I give that chimpanzee smile of defence that says "Please don't rip my throat out") I offered an apple to the nearest student, "Would you like an apple?"

"No."

...Not an auspicious start. But then, students aren't obliged to like Shakespeare. My English teacher once said, at our plea to perform a scene from the text we were working on, "I don't think Shakespeare lends himself to theatre." So sometimes even your teachers are against you. No one is born with a reverence for Shakespeare and unless you see a good play, you probably never gain one.

What we loved most was that the students kept up a running commentary. Telling each other the story ("They're twins! That's why they're hugging!") and learning to love or hate the characters; when Malvolio came in to break up Toby Belch's party, a distinct voice from the darkness called out "Oi oi." I can't tell you how gratifying that is. By the time we'd finished, they were whooping and cheering.

We also took Twelfth Night to Regent's Park last Thursday for a small band of parents and loved ones. It's one of the best things I've ever done. In promenade, we set Orsino's court in the bandstand, had Viola shipwrecked on the shores of the boating lake, actually hid characters in a box tree! With every piece of theatre, you must play - you must enjoy yourself, you have to perform it thinking what a fantastic play it is.

Sadly, our director has had to fly to New York (she's performing in the RSC's Lear and Winter's Tale) Maria gave Kelly her very own box tree whilst Sebastian gave a collage of the photographs taken of rehearsals and production. We've only two shows left in the Vanbrugh and two more schools but we're certain of our 'Twelfth Night's fantasticness' now, so all we need to do is show everybody else!